


The One True Repairman

by flawedamythyst



Category: Community (TV)
Genre: M/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-01-17
Updated: 2017-01-17
Packaged: 2018-09-18 05:54:27
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,502
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/9371027
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/flawedamythyst/pseuds/flawedamythyst
Summary: LeVar Burton's air-conditioning breaks.Doesn't take into account any canon from the end of season 4 onwards.





	

LeVar had had three different guys in to look at his broken air-con, all of whom had looked it over then given a sad shake of the head. The last one also added a sharp suck in through his teeth, which was pretty much a death-knell, in LeVar's experience.

"Looks like you'll need a whole new system."

LeVar groaned. Putting aside the expense, that just sounded like a whole load of hassle that he didn't want to be doing with.

The repairman hesitated, then glanced around and lowered his voice. "Of course, there is someone who might be able to help."

LeVar raised an eyebrow. "Yeah?"

The man nodded fervently. "The One True Repairman," he said, in hushed tones. "He can fix anything." He reached a hand into his pocket and pulled out a business card, which he offered to LeVar as if it were made of gold.

LeVar took it. There was no name, just a number and a little picture of a fan. "Okay, thanks."

The repairman nodded, gave the business card a creepily worshipful look, then left.

LeVar looked back at it and wondered what the hell that was about. Either this was going to solve his problems or he'd end up with an air-conditioning cult in his back garden. Still, he did need this sorted, and quickly, before he boiled alive in his own house. 

Maybe he'd get his assistant to make the call, just in case.

****

He was washing up when the doorbell rang. He wiped his hands on a cloth before he opened the door, flicking it over his shoulder. Outside the door was a young guy in a boiler suit who looked vaguely familiar.

"Hi," said LeVar, holding out his hand. "I'm LeVar."

The man didn't move. He stared at LeVar's face with a look of frozen horror, his eyes widening until it looked as if they might just fall out. The facial expression plucked at LeVar's memory and he realised where he'd seen the guy before.

"Oh hey, we've met before," he said. "Troy, was it? From the hospital in Colorado?"

The panicked, frozen look didn't fade or change, and LeVar remembered the other thing about this guy. He was incapable of interacting with LeVar. Great, this was going to make things tricky.

LeVar let his hand drop. "You're here about the air-con, right?"

There was no movement on Troy's face. LeVar tried out a reassuring smile. "Do you want to come in and have a look?" he said, standing back and gesturing into the house.

Apparently, that was what it took to break Troy, because he drew in panicked breath, made a strange, high-pitched noise, then turned around and bolted back up the drive.

LeVar let out a long sigh and shut the door again. He really was going to have to buy a whole new air-con system. Damn.

Five minutes later, the doorbell rang again. LeVar opened the door to find Troy there, his jaw clenched tight. He shoved a phone at LeVar which he took in self-defence, to avoid having it driven into his chest. There was an open call on it.

"Hello?" he asked, putting the phone to his ear.

"Hello, Mr. Burton. My name is Abed Nadir. I don't know if you remember me."

LeVar cast his mind back to the weird-ass day when he'd first met Troy. "The guy who was making the documentary?"

There had been a skinny kid with a camera plastered to his face, following everyone around. It probably said a lot about the whole experience that LeVar hadn't even questioned it.

"That's correct. I'm going to be speaking for Troy today. I'm on my way over, but it's going to take a while, so I need you to take Troy through to where your main air-con unit is, and then leave him alone there. Don't talk to him, try not to look at him, definitely do not touch him."

"Uh, right," said LeVar, glancing back at Troy and then quickly averting his eyes.

"Please hand the phone back to Troy now," said Abed.

LeVar did so, doing his best not to touch Troy as he did so. Troy put it up to his ear and made a quiet noise of desperation, and LeVar could hear Abed starting to talk to him, although he couldn't make out any words. It sounded vaguely soothing, whatever he was saying.

He opened his door and gestured Troy in, doing his best to avoid any sudden moves. Was getting the air-con fixed really worth all this?

He took him up to the attic and gestured at the units. Troy still had the phone to his ear but he gave a brief nod at nothing, then set his toolkit down and hunched over the nearest one. LeVar bit his tongue on all the things he wanted to say and just left him to it in silence instead.

Nearly an hour passed, then the door rang again.

"Hi, I'm here for Troy."

"In the attic," said LeVar, gesturing Abed in and trying to pretend to himself he wasn't incredibly relieved to have a normal person around to help him deal with this whole thing. "Is he, uh, autistic or something?"

Abed tipped his head to one side and blinked, and LeVar wondered if he was maybe over-reaching on the 'normal' thing.

"No," said Abed. "I need to see him now."

LeVar gave up. At this point, as long as his air-con wasn't actually trashed, he was counting it as a win. "He's in the attic. This way."

He showed Abed the ladder but didn't go up with him. It seemed a better idea to just keep out of the way.

The moment Abed went upstairs, he could hear a wail.

"Oh god, Abed, why does this keep happening to me?"

LeVar had meant to go straight back downstairs, but he couldn't resist pausing so that he could eavesdrop. Maybe he'd get some clues on how to treat Troy so that he was less- Just less.

"The booking was under the name Paul Conway. PAUL CONWAY! That's not even close!"

Paul Conway was LeVar's assistant. He winced.

"I know," said Abed. "I've concluded it must be a plot from the darkest timeline. They're trying to disable you using your emotional vulnerabilities, but they're going about it all wrong."

Oh god. So much for normal.

Troy sucked in a noisy, wet-sounding sniff. LeVar had a feeling he was crying, which was just great. He bet Patrick Stewart didn't make handymen cry just by existing.

Actually, he probably did.

"They are?" asked Troy, in a wavering voice.

"Oh yes," said Abed. "You see, it's a common misconception that emotionality is a weakness. It's actually one of your greatest strengths."

"That's not what you said during the Pillow and Blankets War," said Troy.

LeVar nearly gave up there and then. This shit was too weird, even for someone who'd been to as many sci-fi conventions as he had.

"A lot of things have changed since then," said Abed. "Your emotions have been a strong impetus for that."

"Yeah," said Troy, beginning to sound less teary. "Okay."

There was the sound of a kiss. LeVar began to feel like an enormous creeper.

"And in this situation, your emotions are going to mean you do the best job possible on this air-conditioning system," said Abed.

"I always do the best job," said Troy. "I'm the One True Repairman."

Okay, seriously, LeVar was going to just go back downstairs and pretend nothing weird was happening in his attic. And if he was really lucky, he wouldn't go up there and find a shrine, or an inter-dimensional portal, or collage of his face built from air-conditioning parts.

Actually, that last one sounded kinda cool. He bet Patrick Stewart didn't have a collage of his face made from air-conditioning parts.

He went downstairs and made himself coffee, and very carefully didn't go up and ask if Troy and Abed wanted a cup. No sense in upsetting things just as they were starting to smooth out.

An hour later, there were footsteps on the stairs and both Troy and Abed came back down, holding hands. Troy hung back, looking tense, but the usual panicked look didn't take hold.

"He's finished," said Abed. "It's fixed."

"Fixed?" said LeVar. "The last three guys all said it was unfixable, and you've done it, just like that? No parts needed?"

"Troy's very good," said Abed. "I don't think you'll have any problems with it ever again."

LeVar grinned. "Thanks, man," he said to Troy, and then could have kicked himself as Troy's eyes bulged.

He ducked his head in acknowledgement and LeVar could see his hand tightening around Abed's until it looked painful. Abed's face gave no indication that he'd noticed.

"We'll go now," he said. "You'll get an invoice."

LeVar nodded and showed them out. He watched as they headed back up the drive, still hand in hand. And people thought actors were weird.


End file.
